Disclaimer: Be prepared to be astonished, people. This section is going to contain---dun dun duuuuuuun---A DISCLAIMER! *people faint in shock* You have now entered…The Twilight Zone.

Seriously, this will contain an actual quotable disclaimer. In this great land of America where McDonald's has lost millions to lawsuits because their food causes obesity if eaten in large enough amounts or their coffee is hot, a girl can't be too careful. I figured I might as well put a very complete one somewhere among my many works; that way if some idiot ever tries to sue me or, the more probable scenario, someone wants to flame me for using their idea, I can point to this and say I LIKE MASHED POTATOES!! Or something.

As a side note, yes, this disclaimer IS longer than the chapter itself, but I'll post two chapters to make it up to you. Sorry for the inconvenience; you can go ahead and skip this if you'd like, as it's only here for future reference. Scroll down until you see a lot of italics and you'll find the beginning of the actual chapter.

Anyway, I will now proceed to dis my claims. Or whatever it is you call writing a real disclaimer.

First, the most obvious of them all. The question is Do I own these characters? Because I am writing a real disclaimer, I will refrain from saying something smart-aleck-y here, but really this should be a obvious. However, since this is a real disclaimer, I will state the answer. Any of the characters in any of my stories that first appeared in the game NiGHTS Into Dreams belong to Sega, not me. Darn. Any of the characters that first appeared in my stories DO belong to me. Any others are either from the comic version or another fan's---we'll get into that later.

On to number two. To my knowledge, all plot points in my stories are mine, one hundred percent, so there. These tales represent many gray cells wrung dry of any useful particles whatsoever. In other words, thinking hard.

However, I have read every piece of NiGHTS fan fiction on the net that I know to exist along with about five holjillion other stories about various things including, but not limited to, flying cows, little short people with names that start with V, purple-haired robots with cool attacks, rabid mongooses, singing potatoes, a white-haired goat, and a jumping bean that went to Hollywood; and, while I believe I have not intruded upon my fellow authors' works in any way, it is a possibility that one or two of their phrases or ideas have not gone into my mental file marked "good reads" but rather "worth remembering", bubbled on the backburner for a month or twelve, and then popped back up in my writing. I do not know of any case of this in any of my stories, but then there IS a reason we have other people do a beta reading before posting our stuff. I may not have caught a mistake. So, if you see anything in my works that you believe has been used before, if you bring it to my attention I will be happy to remove it. Please, tell me about any things you think may have been used somewhere else! I'll be very grateful that you did. As long as you don't accuse my entire story line of being stolen. For your information, I just spent the last five flippin' weeks thinking this all up and fine-tuning it, and it is mine, ALL MINE. So cope.

Thirdly. In my works, I use several terms that I did not create: demi-maren, High Seekers, and probably several others that I'm not even aware are fan-creations, but are anyway. Hey, they don't need my permission to be. So I am stating, here and now, that any terms used in my works that weren't created by Sega, but rather a fan somewhere, BELONG TO THAT FAN, AND I DO NOT CLAIM TO HAVE THOUGHT THEM UP. DO NOT SUE. I NO LIKE SUE-IE PEOPLE.

Number four. I do NOT claim to be canon. My version of Nightmare Castle, and everything else in the Dream World, is different than anybody else's---these are my stories, and I rule my dreams. If you're looking for correct fan fiction, you're at the wrong address; you want 6.82, one galaxy across, three doors down. You won't find completely correct stuff here, and I do not claim to be valid for quoting. My facts are not canon. My worlds are not real. My characters are not sane. Their creator isn't, either. I've created practically half of everything I write about, including---cue evil voice---the fan-created characters, and my theories are all mine as far as I'm aware of.

Which brings us to number five. I've probably picked up a theory or idea from some other Nights fans; I can't think of any at the moment, but that doesn't mean I haven't. So I now state, firmly, clearly, and through a bullhorn, ANY NIGHTMAREN THEORY THAT YOU WISH TO QUOTE AS SAID BY SOMEONE ELSE FIRST, GO RIGHT AHEAD. Just tell me about it in a review, please; I may believe that theory or plot point to be my own. For example, the "improvements" scenario, which you will read about later, is my own plot point and idea, and I will fight you tooth, claw, and beak for it. No touchie.

There, as far as I know that's all I could be sued over. I don't wish to fight, and I'm really quite harmless; don't get mad at me, please. Tell me if I've taken someone's idea, or theory, or whatever, and I'll gladly remove it or copyright it or whatever it is they want me to do about it. I'm nice, I don't bite. I'll only engage in fighting if someone's a real jerk, steals some of my stuff, and refuses to give it back. I'm nice, people, nice. Very probably insane, yes, but nice. Got that yet? Good.

There. Disclaimer. Happy?

Chapter Three:

Waters Rising

Blood has been harder to dam back then water.

Just when we think we have it impounded safe

Behind new barrier walls (and let it chafe!),

It breaks away in some new kind of slaughter.

We choose to say it is let loose by the devil;

But power of blood itself releases blood.

It goes by might of being such a flood

Held high at so unnatural a level.

It will have outlet, brave and not so brave.

Weapons of war and implements of peace

Are but the points at which it finds release.

And now it is once more the tidal wave

That when it has swept by, leaves summits stained.

Oh, blood will out. It cannot be contained.

The Flood, by Robert Frost

NiGHTS watched as the patrol passed right under his very tree, never even noticing he was there. He was rather good at hiding, he supposed, but still they should have noticed something…ah well. It wasn't as if it mattered; just an Ideya lost here or there, but no lasting results.

'That may change,' he reminded himself, stretching out of his cramped position once the passing group was beyond hearing distance. 'After all, we're going to war soon. But wait…is it really war? Wizeman could finish everything faster than we could blink! So it's not war, really. I think…'

He frowned and put his chin in his hand, staring down through the leaves at the grassy forest floor. 'But he's having us train the younger ones as if they'll be fighting. Are we going to be taking over the humans' world on our own, or is he going to use his powers? I wish I knew what was going on, at least. But then, it's more exciting when you don't know what's around the next bend…

'Speaking of exciting…I wonder, what will the Waking World look like once we've conquered it? Just like the Dream World, I suppose…still, that'll be kind of boring…'

Oh well. Maybe he'd talk to Wizeman about that. Shrugging, he jumped from his branch and headed off to fill his daily quota of Ideya.

Reala watched as the last nightmaren flew into the barracks, and then turned and headed for his room. He needed a break; training those kids was tiring. He wouldn't have expected it to be, but the idiots needed every other move shown to them at least three times over before they could do it themselves.

'They're only kids,' his more reasonable side reminded.

'They've also been training for two years now,' his personal emotions snapped. 'You'd think they'd at least know a drill-dash! What in the Dream World have they been learning? I'll have to speak to their sparring instructor, as well…'

Later. Right now he was going straight to his room, where he'd have a drink and relax. Reprimanding could be dealt with later.

'Still, I can't wait too long. This is an important matter.' Normally he would have been a bit more lenient with the lack of knowledge in aerial tactics, but they were on a mission now. Taking over the Waking World was going to be the biggest thing they'd ever do---and no one was going to be allowed to mess up. Those children would just have to learn.

The rest of the patrol passed without any unusual incidents, and Clawz and Jackle managed to keep from permanently maiming one another. Once they had returned, Clawz disappeared into his room to clean himself of the dust and burrs he'd gathered while out on patrol, and Jackle headed for the kitchens. He was hungry; that bread and cheese just hadn't been enough.

The kitchens were, as always, busy, but Jackle was a normal visitor and therefore was ignored. He managed to sneak a meat pie that had been cooling, and went on his merry way to his room. True, he was a High Seeker, and as such he could have had the entire kitchen crew up and making a five-course feast within minutes if he'd so desired, but he preferred a small, secret meal. Good chance for him to practice his sleight-of-hand.

He retreated to his balcony to eat his prize. Within several moments of his arriving there AC showed up; the crow seemed to have an uncanny ability to know exactly where the demi-maren was. He hopped onto Jackle's shoulder and made a sound curiously like "please".

"Oh, go along," said Jackle good-naturedly, shooing him away. AC took off, but stopped just out of range and hovered there, flapping, and cawing in protest. Finally Jackle gave in. "Oh, fine. Here."

The crow returned to his perch on the nightmaren's shoulder and accepted the offered bit of meat eagerly. Jackle chuckled and shook his head. "You're such a greedy-guts."

The crow eyed him balefully. He shrugged. "Well, you are."

"Not half as much as you are."

"I'm bigger than he is."

"So?"

"You're weird."

AC continued to pick at his piece of meat calmly, not at all perturbed by the fact that his maren friend was holding a conversation with himself. He was concerned when Jackle gasped out like he'd just been hit in the stomach.

The crow halted his barrage of the meat and eyed him; the demi-maren had stiffened, his muscles tense. AC cawed once, a questioning tone in his call.

Jackle's voice, when he spoke, was strained, as if he were struggling to keep from falling apart. "AC…did you hear that?"

The crow blinked once, bright eyes now shining with a worried glint. He cawed again.

"AC…you heard them, right? Just now, I---" He cut off. He seemed to be listening to something; his head was cocked to the side, his eyes distant, as if he were trying to discern a voice on the wind. A passing breeze ruffled his hair, tossing a few golden locks into his eyes, but he didn't brush them away. For a moment there was silence.

Without warning, AC cawed in the demi-maren's ear; one loud, long cry, the harsh, jarring bray of a crow. Jackle started as if he'd been scared half out of his wits, but his eyes remained distant despite his movement.

Finally, he turned, eyes suddenly focused again; they looked haunted, as if he'd just seen something he wished to forget.

"I heard them again," he whispered.